Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates
When CNSA discovered Ortech in 2019, they knew exactly what they wanted and more importantly what they needed to take their data collection efforts for a fast scaling quality initiative to the next level.
“Our previous vendor made a lot of promises, but ultimately couldn’t deliver on the customized workflow needs we required or handle the volume at a time when we were beginning to scale up. Ortech’s ability to handle high volumes with adaptability and customization was crucial” said Debi Pfortmiller, Co-Director Scientific Research & Quality Outcomes at Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates (CNSA). Being a private practice with 10+ satellite sites creates a large volume of patients and procedures to track. This requires automation as much as possible but must be done in a way that keeps data integrity high.
“Our data is trusted by the research community in the papers we produce, the registries that we submit to, the payers, as well as our patients, so it goes without saying that we want to have the cleanest data in the industry. We need to be comfortable putting our name on everything we produce, and partnering with Ortech helps us with this.”
The needs of data are vast and vary greatly throughout stakeholders in the organization. Likewise, the sources of the data are also vast, coming from patients, surgeons, and care teams across multiple hospitals and different EMRs. “Though it is a lot to manage, and processes vary by location, with Ortech we are able to standardize the workflow to maintain those high levels of data integrity.”
Achieving high capture rates
Despite the large volume and coordination amongst a multitude of care teams, they are consistently able to achieve an astounding response rate of > 80%. How do they do it? Having the right tools certainly helps, and Ortech’s robust Patient Engagement platform plays a role, but it is the communication of the importance of the data by the surgeons to their patients and the efforts of the quality team in monitoring the data that are key. In addition to the automated messaging and reminders for collecting the right data, at the right time, by the right source, the Ortech platform provides reports for quality teams to see where gaps need to be filled. The intuitive interface, ease of use, and personal touch of the messaging for patients and providers is also key in data capture compliance.
Data at your fingertips
“The ability to run my own queries, export data when needed, and have access to data in real-time without having to submit requests for reports has been crucial for me and my team. The fact that Ortech understands our clinical needs and has a mutual respect for the importance of data has made our partnership great.”
How they use the data
The #1 reason is for measuring quality of care, however, the downstream uses are plentiful:
- Research papers
- Submission to national registries
- Submission to payers
- Joint Commission certification (2 sites approved and working on a 3rd)
“I can’t stress enough how important data driven decision making is to quality of care. Tracking patients longitudinally is critical and the wealth of data and information we have to work from through working with Ortech is invaluable.”
Tips for finding the right partner
“Knowing what we wanted gave us a leg up and Ortech satisfied all our needs. Our partnership with Ortech actually resembles a good marriage! Expectations are well managed, exceptional communication, and transparency is always present (no false promises!). We’ve been thrilled from Day 1 and look forward to continued growth of our Quality initiative.”
If you are interested in learning more about seamless data capture with flexibility that provides real-time reporting to all involved (providers, management, patients) in an understandable way, showing quality of care and improvement while saving time, reducing cost and improving communication, send us a message or book a time here: Contact Us
